The Unabomber: Industrial Society and Its Future

   
      Ted Kaczynski, or the Unabomber, was a former assistant mathematics professor at UC Berkeley, graduate of Harvard University with a bachelors in mathematics after being accepted on full scholarship at age 16, as well as he has a masters and doctorate in mathematics from the University of Michigan. However, two years after becoming the youngest assistant professor in UC Berkeley history at just 25 years old, Kaczynski left Berkeley and began down a path of becoming one of the most infamous domestic terrorists in American history.

      Moving to and building a cabin in Lincoln, Montana in 1971, Kaczynski seeked to get away from a society in which he believed was one that was continually cracking down on human freedoms and individualism with the advancements of technology. Kaczynski believed that advancements in technology and industrialization had disastrous consequences on the human race, leading to a general decline in all areas of living. He felt that modern technology replaced what would be real accomplishments with "surrogate activities", such as popular entertainment and sports, as well that industrial societies forced humans to behave how it needed them to behave, degrading their freedom and individualism. In short, Kaczynski believed technology to be the root of many of the problems in the world, the decline of traditional values, which is up to you to decide if this is a problem, the rise of authoritarian governments, and the decline of individualism.

      Beyond the ideas stated above, Kaczynski also denounced modern leftism, which he saw as an aspect of modern industrial society. Furthermore, leftist ideas of cultural relativism, political correctness, class warfare, and identity politics, among other aspects of modern leftism, he also saw as symptoms of industrial society and as the end result of what happens when you take away people's connection to the lifestyle they evolved for, and replaced it with, as stated above "surrogate activities" and other matters of what he believed to have little importance nor positive impact on people. Kaczynski also criticized conservatives, believing them to be fools for their attempts to preserve traditional values while at the same time supporting technological progress.

      These ideas on industrial society were written in Kaczynski's manifesto, Industrial Society and Its Future, in 1995 and given to various media outlets in a deal that Kaczynski would stop his mail-bombing campaign, which by this point had killed 3 and injured 23 people. Kaczynski's
mail-bombing campaign began in 1978. However, his participation in illegal activities began in 1975 when he began vandalizing construction sites in the Lincoln, Montana area when these projects of real estate and industrial development began to encroach on his home.

      His first bomb sent in his 17 year mail-bombing spree began in 1978 when he targeted Northwestern University professor of engineering Buckley Crist, who escaped injury when he alerted security. A security guard did, however, get injured, the bomb inside the package exploding and injuring his hand. In December of 1985, a bomb sent to Hugh Scrutton, a computer store owner in Sacramento, exploded and killed him, the first fatality of Kaczynski's mail-bombing campaign. By the end of his campaign, he ended up committing 14 attacks with 16 bombs, his last victim and the last fatality being Gilbert Murray on April 24th, 1995, who was a timber industry lobbyist.

      Ultimately, however, Kaczynski would be caught by the FBI and his cabin was raided on April 3rd, 1996. David Kaczynski, the Unabomber's younger brother, already suspicious of his brother, went to the FBI with letters he had personally received from Ted and had them compared with the manifesto with a linguistic analysis, confirming that the manifesto was most likely written by Ted. His cabin was raided by the FBI and a month after being arrested, the Unabomber was indicted by a federal grand jury on 10 counts. While Kaczynski's attorneys wanted him to enter an insanity plea, Kaczynski refused, viewing that it would harm the reception of his manifesto. Kaczynski is currently serving 8 life sentences in a Supermax security prison in Florence, Colorado.

      And finally, one last piece of the story of the Unabomber. While at Harvard, Kaczynski was recruited for an experiment alongside 21 other Harvard students. They were told to write essays of their world views and personal philosophies and then after submitting the essays, the experiment really began. The students were, based off their essays, individually attacked verbally, interrogated, their beliefs and values attacked. None of the students were made aware of this fact, and by modern standards, the study was a clear violation of ethical standards. For Kaczynski, he was experimented on during a 3 year period, participating in over 200 hours of experimentation. Kaczynski later wrote how his time at Harvard was the worst experience of his life, some pointing to the experiment as a possible reason for the creation of the Unabomber and Kaczynski's hatred for technology, after he experienced the cold pursuit of knowledge for over 200 hours. Regardless of the experiment however, Kaczynski's actions were unforgivable and he is both one of the most infamous and interesting characters in American history.

Sources:
https://www.history.com/topics/crime/unabomber-ted-kaczynski
https://www.fbi.gov/history/famous-cases/unabomber
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/unabomber-enters-supermax-prison/

https://www.history.com/news/what-happened-to-the-unabomber-at-harvard